BART Week 2020: Building a Better Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- BART is an integral part to building a better Bay Area. It's our biggest, most widespread, and most taken mass transit system.

CONTACT US: Have a question, comment or concern about BART? We want to know

For hundreds of thousands of Bay Area residents, it's the cheapest, fastest, and most reliable form of mass transportation.

When BART is healthy, more people ride, which means less people on the roads, making its success important to every commuter in the Bay Area.

But BART riders often complain about lack of cleanliness, worry about crime and share their concern about the homeless who ride the system, among other issues.

In fact, the agency has seen a dramatic decrease in ridership over the past five years, with nearly 10 million fewer passengers on nights and weekends.

We're digging deeper into the challenges facing the transit agency, what riding on BART is really like right now, what they are doing right and what customers say they can do better.

STORIES & VIDEOS FROM BART WEEK:

• Should BART try money back guarantee to lure back riders? It's working in Washington DC


• Bay Area commute: From underwater tunnel to 2nd BART tube, these ideas could revolutionize the way we get around


• Transit activists work to make Bay Area commute easier on BART, buses, trains and ferries


• DEAR BART: ABC7 talks to riders at the Pleasant Hill Bart Station


• Do you talk to fellow BART passengers? These people did and became best friends


• ABC7 News tests BART's Trip Planner app on route with transfers


• San Leandro BART fare evaders still getting through emergency gates


• What BART, Muni, Bay Area public transit are doing amid COVID-19 fears


• Quick Tip: What do BART station agents do?


• BART police chief to address report showing racial disparity in citations


• A Day On BART 2020: What riding the trains is really like


• Got a complaint about BART? The general manager is listening


• What's an excursion ticket?


• BART station agent worked 361 days in 2018, made over $100,000 in overtime


• What's the cost of your commute?


• BART GM Bob Powers rides BART with Phil Matier, discusses rider concerns

OTHER BART RELATED STORIES & VIDEOS:

• BART looking for ways to rebuild declining ridership after losing 10 million riders on night, weekends


• BART riders could pay more for parking as transit agency tries to add housing, retail to transit hubs


• BART's new fare evasion gates difficult to access for people with disabilities


• How BART compares to other transit agencies



• Could other transit agencies have the answer to BART fare evaders?


• BART experienced rise in cell phone, laptop thefts in 2019


• BART to build housing at stations


• BART says costs for heavy crackdown on fare evasion would be 'astronomical'


• In-depth: A look at what BART could have been, what it still has potential to be

Take a look at all of ABC7's Building a Better Bay Area stories and videos.